"Fucking fish and shitty nets and crappy bait and shitty fishing rods and-" Baz muttered furiously to himself, frustrated as he attempted to untie the knots in the fishing nets.
The sand in the beach stuck to his shoes, and somehow had managed to find it's way into his socks, giving him an awful gritty feeling. He bent over, spotting something shiny in the sand, removing a shard of mirror from the sand. Curiously, he turned it over in his palm to inspect it, catching what he looked like in the reflection. His hair was bedraggled, and knotted. After a few curious moments of looking at the mirror, he prepared to pocket it before someone asked in a small whisper, barely loud enough to hear;
"Hey…can you help? Please?"
He freaked for a few brief moments, violently scanning the area of what he had presumed empty beach.
"Please…I don't have long."
"Who said that?" He panicked.
"Up here. On top of the rocks."
Sure enough, when Baz directed his vision up, into the small cove only accessible through a slippery, treacherous climb up rocks, he saw a sight that almost bowled him over.
Because, delicately perched on a few rocks, was a mermaid.
Though, on closer inspection, it appeared to be a merman. His tail extended more than three quarters of his body length, trailing down the rocks, heavy and wet. Half his torso was decorated with patterns of gold and purple scales, beautiful swirls of purple colour trailed his entire body, stopping just at his scalp, where messy golden curls gently rested on top, damp; which worried him. How long had the merman been stuck out here? The scales that replaced human's ears were flat, a sign of fear and extreme discomfort.
"I-" Baz stuttered, met by an expectant but perhaps even afraid stare from the merman. He stuttered a nervous apology. "I'm sorry, I've never seen a merman up this close before. Only in zoos and stuff."
Baz did not miss the way the merman's face darkened at the mention at his kind's captivity. What places like that did were more than controversial with the public; even this week, in the aftermath of the fiftieth death of one of the mermaid in captivity, a horrifying anniversary of some sort, there had been countless public protests.
"Sorry. I'm against it, but my dad took me when I was too young to understand."
The boy gave him an apologetic smile, before gesturing to himself and asking again.
"I hate to be a pain, but I've been up here a while."
"Shit, yeah." Baz cursed. "Okay, better help you get down."
Baz took a second to think about how he was going go about this, grimacing awkwardly, realising there was no way he was going to be able to do this himself. He was just trying to figure out a way to get the ladder from home when the other boy suddenly spoke up.
"If you go round to the gravel road, there's a way to access it from the top. I might be a little heavy…you may need some help." The boy said, with an apologetic and oddly sad smile.
"It's tourist season." Baz informed him. "Too many people. Can you hang on until tonight, then I can help you out where no one can see you. You're pretty well hidden there, right?"
"Yeah. I can probably manage about 24 more hours away from sea. But I can't guarantee that. I miss my home."
"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry I can't get to you sooner, but some of the people round here would sell their own family for a quick buck. Do you know how much mer-people are going for around here?"
"In the millions." At Baz's odd look, he suddenly says; "I'd imagine."
"Mhm." Baz nodded. "I'll see you tonight."
"Thank you so much, I'll forever be in your debt."
"Hey, no, I'm not leaving yet. I have to leave when the sun starts to set but that's not for a good few hours. Do you want me to stay and chat?"
The boy smiled again, and nodded.
"I'm Simon, by the way. Simon Snow."
"Baz Pitch. Well, technically it's Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch III but I hate that name, so just Baz is fine."
Simon laughed, his nose scrunching up in a way that reminds him how similar humans and mer-people really are. He didn't ignore the way people, particularly zoo staff, emphasized the divide between the two.
"So, Simon." Baz asked, leaning casually on the rocks. "What d'ya do for fun 'round here?"
Simon didn't answer him, staring at the wide, open water in a way that made his heart ache. Baz can feel the loss in the yearning stare, the way his eyes sparkled with joy and excitement.
"I've got this cool little collection back home." He grinned, not tearing his eyes away from the Atlantic Ocean. "Buncha cool human stuff."
"Wicked." Baz smiled.
"I play with the fish sometimes."
"Ah. My aunt and I family catch fish. Is that offensive?"
Simon laughed again, his startlingly white teeth, and sharp, showing and his freckles dancing like constellations on his face. "No. Some of my kind eat fish."
"We do too, some of us."
"I know."
"Wait, I need to ask you something. How are you speaking English right now?" Baz asked, suddenly realising the oddness of the situation. "And how can you understand me? And how the hell did you get up there?"
Almost immediately, Simon flinched away from Baz. Refusing to meet his eyes, Simon seemed to be retreating into himself, which worried Baz.
"No, it's okay, you don't have to -"
"…I was kept in captivity. And someone close to me helped me escape…he taught me English."
I'm sorry, Simon. I didn't mean to pry."
Simon, still not looking at him, shrugged his shoulders. Saddened, Baz didn't reply, simply because he had no idea what to say.
"But I still want to talk to you. But please, can we avoid this subject?" Simon suddenly piped up, Baz noticing his pitch had gone up a few notches; he assumed excitement.
"Of course we can."
Baz didn't even notice when the sun started to set, leaving golden ripples on the water, dancing on the surface. The dark set in, and the tourists slowly began to leave. None had occupied the beach, thankfully, as today was reserved for fishers, and the boats had long since departed.
"I think I should be going." Baz informed Simon, apologetically.
"Ah." A look of saddened understanding that he'd be facing at least a lonely few hours settled on Simon's face. "Okay, I see, see you soon?"
"Of course." Baz reassured him. "Good night, Simon."
"Good night."
As Baz walks away, his feet crunching the sand underneath, he sneaks a quick glance at Simon. He'd pushed himself further into the little cubbyhole where he was hiding, his face shadowed by the top of it. He looked so small.
His alarm beeped, three sharp beeps in succession that shocked him awake. His eyes flew open, and for an unknown reason, his heart sunk with panic. In his sleep addled state, it took him a few minutes to gather his thoughts, figure out why he needed to be awake now.
He finally remembered who was waiting for him, and immediately shot out of his bed, practically flying out the door in just a shirt and jogging bottoms. The second he tiptoed out the door, the cold night air hit him, yet he powered through; Simon had been waiting in this weather for god knows how many nights.
He jogged down the beach, the only sounds being the crunching of his feet under the sand and the gentle lap of the sea; if the moment weren't so urgent, he'd be feeling quite peaceful now.
It only takes him a few minutes to return to Simon's hiding place, using his small flashlight to light his vision. The small ray swivels round the cove, until hitting the scales of Simon's tail, reflecting off.
"Oi! Simon!" He whispered, urgently. Carefully, he steps over sharp rocks, closer to where he last saw Simon. "I'm here. Please, let me know you're alive!"
"Huh?" Baz heard a confused voice whisper. "Dad?"
"No?" Baz replied, a sympathetic note in his voice. "Sorry, It's Baz."
"Oh." Simon blinked blearily at him, in a state of dehydration and obvious sleep-deprivation. He grinned at Baz. "My knight in shining armour."
"Not yet, mate." Baz mumbled to himself, before putting the flashlight on the floor. "Right, what I'm going to do is grab you under your arms, supporting most your weight but dragging your lower body. Then I'm just gonna…awkwardly drag you. You okay with that? You kinda have to be, it's all I've got to offer."
"Sure, that's fine." Simon smiled at him, the dimples on his cheeks reminding Baz of craters on the moon.
Baz stood on the tips of his toes, reaching as high as he can go, grabbed Simon by the waist and gently – well, as gently as he could – pulled Simon down from the ledge.
"No, no!" Simon panicked, just as Baz hears the rocks begin to crumble, and Simon ungracefully collapsed on top of Baz.
"Jeez." Simon muttered after a few moments of stunned silence. "Didn't expect that."
That definitely sets Baz off; he pushes Simon off, holding his stomach with the hysterical laughter. He doubled over, wheezing with silent laughter. Then Simon starts, and they're both lying on the floor hysterically.
A good five minutes pass before either of them are in any shape to be going anywhere. Baz eventually gets up – with difficulty – and loops his arms under Simon's, and painstakingly slowly, starts to drag him.
"I'm really sorry there wasn't another way." He apologised, grimacing just looking at Simon.
"It's fine, honestly." Simon smiled back. "I'm just glad to be going home."
It's ya boi Gabe back at it with another continuous fic he'll hopefully actually finish this time.
This was originally written for Mermay, but I had forgotten about it by the time Mermay had finished. So I thought it's better late than never to publish it, right?
Also I really regret choosing past tense for this because me and past tense do not get along. Thus there will probably be errors with the tense - lemme know if you find any!
Chapter 2 is in the works. I promise. But I'll be on holiday Monday to Friday for the next two weeks, so it could be up during the weekends? I won't make any promises however. Other than it will be up eventually.
(pssst - hmu on tumblr if you wanna chat yesgay-briel)